2007年VOA标准英语-New Survey Finds Counterfeit Products Cost Glob

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
08 February 2007

The World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO estimates counterfeiting² and piracy³ is costing the global economy more than $100 billion a year. Surveys by big business put a much higher figure of more than $600 billion on this illicit⁴ trade. More than 700 top government, business, and international law enforcement officials met recently at the Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy convened⁵ by WIPO. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA in Geneva.

 
Woman inspects counterfeit¹ purses
Buying a fake Gucci bag or a $25 Rolex watch won't kill anyone. But, buying counterfeit medicine can cause serious disability and even death as Robert Mallett, senior vice⁶ president of the pharmaceutical⁷ firm Pfizer explains.

He relates the story of a 30-year-old man, suffering from backache, who bought, what he thought was Zanex, an anxiety reducing compound and a pain killer⁸ called Ultra.

"He bought it over the Internet. He took them both one night and he woke up in the hospital three weeks later," Mallett said. "His Zanex was counterfeit. It contained four times the usual dose. It was combined with another medicine. It produced a heart attack, brain damage and sent him into a coma⁹."

The illicit nature of this trade makes it difficult to obtain exact figures, but estimates put counterfeits¹⁰ at more than 10 percent of the global market in medicines. And, the World Health Organization reports about 25 percent of the medicines consumed in developing countries are fake. The most commonly counterfeited¹¹ medicines in poor countries are used to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria¹², tuberculosis¹³ and HIV/AIDS.

Mallett says this is akin¹⁴ to murder.

"More alarming than what we see today is what we foresee happening tomorrow," he said. "Some authorities expect counterfeiting to double in the next four years. That could mean one in every five patients will be using counterfeit drugs."

 
But, counterfeit medicines are not the only products that can kill.

"This is a counterfeit fire extinguisher," explained Brian Monks¹⁵, vice president of Anti-Counterfeiting Operations of the U.S.-based Underwriters Laboratories, which tests products for safety.

"Can you imagine that you are in a house. You're in a fire. You go to use the fire extinguisher to get your family out of the house and you don't get out because the fire extinguisher does not work," he said.

Monks says over 20 billion UL labels a year appear on products worldwide attesting¹⁶ to their safety. He calls the counterfeiting of products an economic crime.

"These thieves want to steal as much money as they can and at our risk. We take this battle to the counterfeiters worldwide," Monks said. "We want to have them charged, prosecuted¹⁷ and put in jail and their assets seized. They should not profit from peoples' lives or put peoples' lives in jeopardy¹⁸."

"It's not just the police. That is what has to be kept in mind. It's customs working with the police, working with the private sector," he said. "And in most of these areas, this has never been done before. And, that is where we see our successes."

Director of Specialized¹⁹ Crime at Interpol, David Gork, says counterfeiting products is not a crime that stands out. He describes this as an insidious²⁰ type of crime that is slowly creeping.

"Now you have to ask yourself also why are they committing these type of crimes. They could be running drugs or running prostitution rings or trafficking people," Gork said. "A lot of times these organized crime groups are doing all of those. But, there is less of an impact on them from a penalty perspective than there is on any other crime…There is not enough teeth in the law and when there is the judges don't necessarily understand the full impact of the crimes that are sitting before them and they give them absolutely minimal²¹ fines. They are making hundreds of millions of dollars and they give them a $10,000 fine or a $5,000 fine if you are lucky."

Almost every product on the market today is fair game for counterfeiters. This illegal trade undermines economic development. It results in lost earnings²², lost jobs and lost tax revenues. The expansion of the illegal trade in fake foodstuffs²³ and pharmaceuticals²⁴ can cause disability and death.

Delegates at the Congress agree police and customs officials need more money to fight counterfeiting. They urge governments to enact²⁵ tough laws against this scourge²⁶ and to enforce those laws.

They say public awareness²⁷ must be raised of the damage caused by counterfeit products. Once consumers stop demanding these cheap goods, the supply will dry up and so, they say, will the crime and economic exploitation that goes with it.

1 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

2 counterfeiting   

n.伪造v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was sent to prison for counterfeiting five-dollar bills. 他因伪造5美元的钞票被捕入狱。 来自辞典例句
• National bureau released securities, certificates with security anti-counterfeiting paper technical standards. 国家质量技术监督局发布了证券、证件用安全性防伪纸张技术标准。 来自互联网

3 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

4 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

5 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

8 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

9 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

10 counterfeits   

v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Objects and people looked like counterfeits of themselves. 各种人和事好象都给自己披上了伪装。 来自辞典例句
• We have seen many counterfeits, but we are born believers in great men. 我们见过许多骗子，但是我们天生信赖伟人。 来自辞典例句

11 counterfeited   

v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• How did you spot those fifties were counterfeited? 你怎样察觉出那些50元面值的纸币是伪造的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old miser's widow counterfeited a grief she did not feel. 这个老守财奴的寡妇伪装出她并没有的哀伤。 来自辞典例句

12 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

13 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

14 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

15 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 attesting   

v.证明( attest的现在分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓

参考例句：

• Thus, a word of God, giving his own authoritative promise of redemption, must be self-attesting. 因此，上帝的话-将祂自己权威性的救赎应许赐给了人-必须是自证的。 来自互联网
• There might be a letter in your file attesting to your energetic and imaginative teaching. 可能我会写封信证明你生动而充满想象力的教学。 来自互联网

17 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

18 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

19 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

20 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

21 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

22 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

23 foodstuffs   

食物，食品( foodstuff的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Imports of foodstuffs accounted for a small proportion of total imports. 食物进口仅占总进口额的一小部份。
• Many basic foodstuffs, such as bread and milk, are tax-free. 许多基本食物如牛奶和面包是免税的。

24 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

26 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。

27 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。